California Man Sentenced For Making Child Pornography Using Wyoming Girl

A California man, Navy veteran and former Boy Scout leader on Monday was sentenced to prison for enticing a 14-year-old girl in Wyoming to send him sexually explicit photos to make child pornography.

U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl handed down the 13-year eight-month sentence to Dennis Francis Boyle, 54, in federal court in Casper.

During the hearing, Skavdahl said technology has brought out the best and worst of people, and such crimes will continue if we don't change the way we communicate with others.

However, he doesn't have that power to change that as a federal judge, he said.

Boyle pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography during a change of plea hearing in April.

In exchange for his plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hambrick and his-then Public Defender Traci Hucke agreed that Boyle would receive two concurrent 15-year prison terms and they would be served concurrently with the seven-year term for similar crimes in California. Skavdahl adjusted the 15-year sentence downward to align it with that sentence. He also ordered Boyle to pay $5,000 to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act and undergo sex offender treatment.

In exchange for the plea, the attorneys agreed to dismiss two counts of causing another person to distribute child pornography.

After Boyle is released from prison, he will be on lifetime supervision, register as a sex offender, have severely restricted computer privileges, and not be allowed to associate with children or vulnerable adults without supervision, Skavdahl said.

After the hearing, Hambrick said the Wyoming U.S. Attorney's Office investigated the case when the federal prosecutor in the Eastern U.S. District of California called about the girl, who lives in the northeastern part of the state.

The California prosecutors did not do as much as they should to pursue Boyle's nationwide solicitation of victims, so the Wyoming office stepped in, Hambrick said. "We felt like our victim in Wyoming didn't get vindication here."

During the hearing, she said the victim and her family were satisfied with the plea agreement, but were reluctant to participate in the case because that could have revictimized the girl. "I hope she's getting the help and care she needs to get her way through this."

Hambrick called Boyle's solicitation methods "diabolical" because they targeted victims of sexual abuse.

Public defender David Weiss said Boyle himself was a victim of abuse when he was young. Modern developments of technology enabled him to produce child pornography that wouldn't have been possible when he was a Navy veteran and law enforcement officer, Weiss said.

Boyle told Skavdahl that he was remorseful, and looks forward to receiving sex offender treatment.

In September, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announced Boyle was sentenced to seven years in prison for distributing child pornography from August to October 2015.

Boyle was from Davis, Calif., and worked as a financial auditor for the state and was a charter organization representative for the Boy Scouts, California U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said.